Stocking



V Dec. 3, 1957 J. v. CLARKE ETAL 9 STOCKING Filed Sept. 7, 1956 INVENTORS. SA M 1/5 L z EURO 75 BY JO EP/l u (ZA/?KE United States Parent O STOCKING Joseph V. Clarke, Flushing, and Samuel I. Burd, New York, N. Y., assigors to Prestige, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporatio of Pennsylvania Application September 7, 1956, Serial No. 608,562 3 Claims. (Cl. Gli-172) CFor obvious reasons, ladies stockings are made in a very limited range of leg and foot szes such as small, medium or large with some corresponding variation in length. But, because legs can be long and thin, or long and thick, or short and thin or short and thick, with almost infinite variations in between, and because women wear a girdle or a garte' belt one day and not the next and because one dress may be very sheer and clinging and another may not, the problem of making a stocking which will satisfy all of these requirements has been recognized for a long time and various attempts have been made to produce garter top and roll top stockings, but the resulting products have not been practcal enough to be commercially successful. For example, the expedients heretofore proposed have produced an expensive stocking, or a heavy, ugly and unsalable stocking, or have produced a weakened fabric and so on.

The object of the invention is to produce an improved stocking which satisfies all of the requirements above enumerated, but which will have all of the characteristcs which make conventional stockings desirable.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a stocking embodying the invention, showing the stocking being pulled up on the leg.

EFig. 2 is a view of the upper portion of Fig. 1 showing how the upper margin of the stocking automatically rolls to form a tightly wound garter.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a very greatly enlarged sectional View of the yarn used in carrying out the invention.

The leg and the shadow wel-t 12 of the stocking illustrated are knit of conventional stitches which are therefore, not shown, and if desired, the shadow welt 12, the heel 14 and the toe 16 are reinforced in the conventoral manner.

In carrying out the invention, the shadow welt 12 is made longer than that of a conventional stocking and the welt proper 18 is made very much shorter so that the combined length of the welt and the shadow welt of the stocking illustrated is substantially equal to the length of the welt and shadow welt of a conventional stocking.

Also according to this invention the wel-t 18- is knit of sheer rubber yarn 20 which is covered with a nylon or other synthetic filament 22 in the manner shown in Adamson Patent No. 2,0l3,396 of September 3, 1935, or in any other well known manner, as shown in highly exaggerated manner in Fig. 4. Also, the welt 18 is knit, throughout, of convent-ional stitches and, as used herein, the term conventional includes locked stitches as well as plain loop stitches. stated diferently, the welt 18 is knit uniformly of the selected stitch without the use of special stitches to cause the welt to roll.

A welt knit of the yarn herein described appears like a continuation of the shadow welt which is knit of conventional yarn. In other Words, the welt, except for its tendency to form a tight roll does not present a different appearance. This is due to the very sheer character of the rubber yarn and the similarty of the appearance of the welt to `the appearance of the after welt is enhanced when the after welt is reinforced and the welt is not reinforced and by using the same stitch in knitting both the welt and the after welt.

The welt thus produced, if not restrained, will automatically form a tight and uniform roll which is substantially round in cross section and will firmly engage the leg. The formation of the roll provides a certain amount of clamping efiect and, if a stronger efect is desired, the tension under which the elastic yarn is knit to form the welt is increased. Normally the welt will roll only until the junction of the welt with the after welt is reached. But, because the structure of the welt, except for the different yarn is the same as that of the shadow welt, the wearer can roll the welt further down to take up as much of the after welt as desired without forming bumps, creases or slacks which result when the welt and the after welt are not knit of the same stitch.

Likewise, if the woman wishes to suspend the stocking from a garter, she can readily adjust a. full length stocking as may be needed. For example, the garter may be engaged with the welt or with the after welt. In the latter event, instead of having to fold and refold a double wall convent-ional welt, the woman merely rolls the welt and/ or the after welt to the point at which the garter is engaged. In this event, the roll thus formed serves as a stop to prevent the top of the stocking from slpping down through a not too tightly engaging garter. In fact, the presence of a relatively thick roll just above the point at which the garter is engaged makes tight engagement of the garter unnecessary and thus reduces the incidence of runs and holes which are sooner or later produced by the tight engagement of the garter with the welt or with the after welt.

For informal wear, the welt and after welt may be completely rolled down to make a knee length stocking.

The increase in the length of the shadow welt gives the stocking a very wide range of adjustment so that if the stocking is short, it can be worn full length and if it is too long, it can be considerably shortened and so that, in either event, the stocking can be supported with, or without, a garter.

The length of the leg of the stocking may be varied as desired without affecting the invention which resides in knitting a relatively narrow welt and a relatively wide afterwelt of the same stitch and of yarns having the same appearance, except that the welt is knit of a very sheer rubber yarn which is covered with the material of which the yarn used in knitting the afterwelt is formed and that the rubber yarn is knit under a slightly greater tension.

What we claim is:

1. A stocking including a leg, a shadow welt, and a welt, only said welt being knit of a yarn formed of a rubber core and an outer eovering of the same material of which the yarn used in knitting of the shadow welt is formed whereby, if not restrained, the welt. will automatically form a tight and uniform roll which is substantially round in cross section.

2. The stocking defined in claim 1 which has a relatively long shadow welt, and a relatively short welt as compared with the welt and shadow welt of a conventional stocking.

n 53 3. The sto'cking defined in claim 1 in which the yam 2,176,968 used i kntting the welt is of the order of 15 to 45 2,297,028 dener.

References Cited in the file of this patent 5 2,688

UNTED STATES PATENTS 2,0133396 Adamso'n Sept. 3, 1935 4 Hinchliif et al; Oct. 24, 1939 Sheeler Sept. 29, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 7, 1894 

